If playoffs are your ceiling, then yes Baker is your guy. If you have good players around him, he can and has proved he can get a team to the playoffs. He is not good enough to beat Mahomes, Allen, etc... in the playoffs.
I'm sorry...but that ^ narrative is complete BS. In 2020 Baker 'had his team' one Chad Henne jailbreak away from playing in the AFC Championship game...or one Rashard Higgins fumble-for-touchback. His 'good' players at WR were Landry, Higgins, DPJ and Khadarel Hodge...his TEs were Hooper and Bryant. If that = "good players around him" then I am an astronaut.
The Browns seen what Joe Burrow could do and seen the Bengals passing them by and made the decision to move on.
The Browns probably should have focused on their own QB's play against the Bengals rather than slobbering over Cool Joe who has the luxury of having (2) #1 WRs to throw to and has played for (1) coach who has an offense that is geared to Cool Joe's strengths and weaknesses. Weird idea.
I got over Baker about 30 minutes after we signed DW...I have no use for wondering what could have been with him instead of DW and with (3) 1st Rd + PLUS picks and a ton of salary cap...it simply doesn't matter...but the only narrative more ridiculous than that one ^ is talking about Baker's 2021 season here and completely and conveniently NOT mentioning the shoulder injury that required surgery...it's crazy.
So now we have a QB who is 1-3 in the playoffs and carries a ton of baggage...he's been healthy for (3) games - looking good in (1) - and there's already grumbling that the offense isn't best-tailored for him. His shoulder injury prevents him from playing. He has Cooper, Moore, Goodwin and a now-vet DPJ to throw to with Njoku and without Chubb...and outside of the Titans game he hasn't looked demonstrably better than PJ Walker. Last year we were told that he was rusty...this year the offense isn't tailored to his strengths...and I imagine once he decides to play again we will have a rust-removal timeframe to consider.
BTW and FWIW...I'm not trying to be jerk to you DotD...I'm just so tired of that Baker narrative that I could no longer not opine back at that. I'll apologize in advance if that ^ offended you.
I want DW or DTR or PJ or ? to get us a Super Bowl win...I won't care who the players are or who the coach is when/if that happens. My biggest concern is that in the 1.5 seasons that DW has been on this team he has not consistently looked like a guy who could get us to the playoffs...let alone win enough playoff games to get us to the Super Bowl. My next-biggest concern is that this FO went ALL-IN by signing Watson...we have spent $$$ like crazy...we have a Super Bowl caliber defense...and the one position that is most holding us back is QB.
